MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Diana DeGette

Interview

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MADDOW:  The Democrats won control of the house in November.  One material consequence of that is that the woman in charge of congressional oversight over the Department of Health and Human Services is now Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette.  And tomorrow in that capacity, Congresswoman DeGette is going to lead the first hearing Congress has had into the Trump administration forcibly removing kids from their parents at the Southern border. 
 
Congresswoman Diana DeGette joins us now. 
 
Congresswoman, thanks very much for being with us tonight.  I know this is a big night and tomorrow`s going to be a big day. 
 
REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), COLORADO:  It`s good to be with you, Rachel. 
 
MADDOW:  So I know that tomorrow is just presumably a start, but how high are your expectations in terms of what you`re going to be able to get out of the Trump administration and out of HHS about this policy of taking kids away from their moms and dads? 
 
DEGETTE:  Well, so in April last year, the administration announced that they were having this family separation, and we heard about all those kids taken away, but then later this fall, we found out from the government watchdog agencies, the GAO and the inspector general that this was happening much sooner, much sooner.  And what they said, there may still be thousands of children out there who have been placed in foster homes or other places who have still not been reunited with the their families. 
 
What we want to find out is when did this start, what is the policy, and obviously most importantly, what are we going to do to get these kids reunited with their parents? 
 
MADDOW:  One of the things that has been the most troubling just watching the legal wrangling over this, watching the ACLU case and others, is the government asserting and in some cases the court seeming to accept or at least observe that the Trump administration doesn`t have the capacity to figure out how to reunite these families, to figure out which kids go with which families.  In your oversight role, is that something that you can at least force the question on, if not force into reality? 
 
DEGETTE:  Absolutely.  I went to the border in June, and that`s exactly what happened, is when this policy came down, they just took the kids away.  They sent the parents to the criminal system and then they placed the kids with the office of refugee resettlement in HHS.  They didn`t even bother to try to figure out how to track them. 
 
And then when the ACLU filed the court suit in California, they told the court that they couldn`t find a way to get the kids back together with their parents.  Well, the judge forced them to do that, but still, as you say, Rachel, there are many kids out there who still haven`t been reunited and there`s this specter that there may be many more.  This weekend, we got an affidavit from a government official saying he doesn`t believe that they can even find the parents. 
 
Of course, that`s not acceptable.  We`re not going to accept that.  These kids are going to have long-term consequences from these separations.  It`s just outrageous. 
 
MADDOW:  Obviously, the fact that the Republican-controlled Congress did not hold hearings on this, did not pursue this as a matter of oversight -- I mean, it says something about the difference between the parties.  But now that your party is in the majority and that you are the chair of this oversight subcommittee and that you are convening this hearing, are you hopeful that the combination of the court`s interest and your oversight role can, in fact, compel the Trump administration to do what they haven`t yet been able or willing to do, that you can actually force them to do better when it comes to getting these kids home? 
 
DEGETTE:  Absolutely.  I`ve been on this committee for many years as -- in the minority, as the ranking Democrat on the committee, and I`ve seen how frequently when we have these oversight hearings that that actually makes people do things. 
 
And don`t forget, the court suit in California actually made them find the parents for most of these kids from the April executive order, and so I think that by doing this hearing, combined with the court case, we can make them do it.  It`s not easy because they didn`t take records.  They have to comb through three or four different data points.  They have to in some cases take DNA samples. 
 
It`s not easy, but it`s the right thing to do and we intend to make them do it.  Tomorrow won`t be the end of the investigation.  Whatever testimony we get tomorrow and whatever documents we get from the administration, we`re going to continue to pursue this up as high as we need to go in the agency. 
 
MADDOW:  This is obviously one of the most difficult -- at an emotional level, one of the most difficult things to wrangle with what the administration has done.  But at a technical and logistical level, the fix here is going to be hard. 
 
I have to say from all the times I`ve spoke with you on lots of different issues over the years, I`m glad you`re one of the key oversight people who is going to try to fix this.  I think of you as one of the most practical people in the Congress and I long forward to see what you can get done here. 
 
DEGETTE:  You know, Rachel, thank you for that.  This is why we have oversight.  This is why we have checks and balances in our government.
 
MADDOW:  Congressman Diana DeGette, chairs the Energy and Commerce Committees Oversight and Investigations Panel -- absolutely key right now in terms of sorting this out.  Really appreciate your time tonight. 
 
DEGETTE:  Thanks, Rachel. 

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